In 1938, Toribio de la Maza decided to open an ice cream parlour in Zarautz, on his own premises on Calle Mayor nº 13, a location that would later became the May Tere patisserie, a well-known pastry emporium in the town. However, Toribio’s son, Jose Luis de la Maza, maintained contact with the ice cream sector and its related professions. In addition to being a perfectionist in the world of pastries, José Luis was a tireless traveller, a fact that, over the years, garnered him the necessary experience to recognise an exceptional ice cream or pastry wherever he came across one.
On the basis of this experience, in 1990 his daughter Amaia, together with Carlos Arribas, decided to follow the family tradition and opened another ice cream parlour in Zarautz, on the premises of the former Hotel La Perla. In order to achieve this they contacted a number of ice cream parlours that were known to the family and, following a season learning how to make and market ice cream, opened the Gelateria Avanti. The new locale soon came to be known as Gelateria Arrivati because, as luck would have it, the former brand name was already registered.
Today Gelateria Arrivati is one of the best known ice cream emporiums in Euskadi (the Basque Country) and throughout the peninsula, and is an obligatory visit for all ice cream lovers who are visiting the region during the spring or summer months. With the incorporation of the third generation of the family, Arrivati remains at the forefront of gourmet producers of ice cream made according to artisanal traditions.
